Kearns was named after a local farmer, William Kearns, who owned a large property in the area during the 1800s. He gained notoriety for a court case in 1824 where a neighbour sued him for getting his 14-year old daughter pregnant. During the case, it was alleged Kearns had also committed bigamy and attempted to sell his daughter to a sea-captain.

Kearns's land was originally owned by the Tharawal people until they were dispossessed by British settlers in the 1820s. They first named the land River Hill but by 1828 it had been renamed Epping Forest by Kearns. By purchasing neighbouring land grants, he expanded his property to 360 acres (1.5 km2) and established a thriving dairy farm and orchard. After his death in 1880, the property stayed within the family until 1978.

In 1975, Campbelltown Council began planning a major development in the area and chose the name Kearns for the suburb since Epping Forest would have caused confusion with the suburb of Epping elsewhere in Sydney. Streets were named after famous rivers of the world such as Mississippi, Danube and Yangtze and the first residents moved in in 1985. Not long after, a primary school was established in 1992.

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